


A Mix of Jealousy and Jager

by jprongs



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Magical, Alternate Universe - Rock Band, Angst with a Happy Ending, Band Fic, F/M, Getting Together, Humor, M/M, Marauders Friendship, POV Sirius Black, Sirius Black & James Potter Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-22
Updated: 2016-04-22
Packaged: 2018-06-03 17:30:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6619786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jprongs/pseuds/jprongs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sirius Black has quite a few issues: He can't accept that he is only the lead singer of The Marauders half of the time, can't resist drawing attention to himself, and definitely can't resist Remus Lupin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Mix of Jealousy and Jager

**Author's Note:**

  * For [longliveregulus](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=longliveregulus).



> This fic takes place in the same universe as One Night Only, but occurs well beforehand. You don't need to read one to understand or enjoy the other.
> 
> *written for the lovely longliveregulus because of a headcanon that caught my eye on tumblr.

“I’m sure you’re a lot of fun and everything, but I’m really not interested, mate.” He shrugged off the tall, blonde and handsome guy at the bar who was insisting he could show him a good time. The only thing Sirius was actually interested in was getting a bloody drink. He raised a hand to signal the bartender again and smiled when she finally walked over. “Just a Stella and a shot of tequila, ta.”

Handsome guy just had to keep going. “And I’ll take the same. Both on my tab.” And then he turned back to Sirius with a wink. “I’m Gil. You’re Sirius Black, right?”

“I’m actually not interested, as I mentioned before.” Sirius rolled his eyes, downed his tequila and grabbed his pint. “Thanks for the drink and I hope you enjoyed the show.” 

_ Gil _ was just not taking the hint. Instead, the bloke put an arm around his waist and pushed in closer. “If you read the right articles, you’re interested in just about everyone.”

Force was necessary. “C’mon, just back off. I’m not in the mood for this shit. I just wanted to get a drink with my mates.” When he didn’t move, Sirius shoved him away and started to walk off. Running his empty hand through his long dark hair, he searched for any sign of Remus, James, or Peter in the heaving club. James was nowhere to be found and was probably outside the VIP section smoking because he was too awkward to deal with the masses without making an arse of himself. Within a few seconds, he spotted Pete with a nice looking brunette backing up all over him while he enjoyed the view - guy code stated he’d leave that mess be. Remus was probably hunched over the bar somewhere or, like James, outside for a smoke.

And then there was a hand on his arm, pulling him to turn and another one reaching towards his glass with pinched fingers. “You can play hard to get, but I’m pretty determined.” Gil winked and he was fairly certain that he’d just dropped something into his beer.

Backing up like he had the plague, Sirius was getting angry now. “Are you seriously trying to spike my drink? Fuck off.” And, like an overdramatic teenage girl, he chucked the beer at him and then set the empty glass on a table. 

Before Sirius actually knew what was happening though, Gil was coming closer and then being spun around and all of a sudden falling backward into a group of confused drunks. When he followed the line of fire back up, he saw Remus shaking out his fist and wincing.

“I saw this dickhead harassing you from the upper balcony and, well, this happened.” Remus laughed nervously.

Still in a bit of shock, Sirius couldn’t help but start laughing loudly and uncontrollably, which caused Remus to laugh as well. “Is your hand alright?”

He smirked and flipped the sandy blonde curls out of his face and nodded. “Might be a bit sore. I think you’ll have buy me a drink and carry it up for me.” Remus turned his hand over a few times to make sure it all looked normal.

“Anything for my knight in shining armor,” Sirius chided and threw an arm around him as they walked back to the bar. He always enjoyed the nights that Remus had a few drinks and acted all masculine and protective - it made Sirius want to ruffle his hair and get him all wound up.

As they reached the bar, Remus waved the bartender and ordered them each a pint. “I really don’t get how you manage to attract such complete arseholes.” 

Rolling his eyes, he paid for the drinks and then turned to lean on the bar. “Perks of being the lead singer of a popular rock band, Moony dearest.”

Remus snorted and by the time Sirius looked over, half his mate’s glass was empty. “Five years and you and James still can’t agree on who is ‘technically’ the lead singer.” Fuck’s sake, it was like he had no gag reflex - the second half was nearly gone and Sirius had barely taken a few gulps. “That’s why I enjoy being the proverbial background bassist who’s just the brains of the operations.”

“And your childhood crippling social anxiety has nothing to do with that?” He cocked a brow and then lifted his hand and pointed to Remus for another drink.

“Alright, take it easy. I drank away my issues, alright?”

After another half pint, he nodded, watching James stumble down the stairs and signaling for them to head out. “Haven’t we all?”

 

How could one possibly get so sweaty in the dead of winter just from playing a forty minute gig? Sirius fanned himself with the set list while they let the crowd chant ‘one more song’ for a few more minutes. 

“Mate, you taking this one?” James asked him, pouring a bottle of water over himself and slinging his guitar back on. “My throat feels like sandpaper after Peter thought it would be hilarious to have that last song be never-ending.”

Peter chuckled behind them, absolutely soaked. “I couldn’t help myself. I told you payback was a bitch.”

Remus wiped his face with the bottom, mildly dry, half of his t shirt - one of his many ironic and ancient shirts that they’d all tried to chuck out at one point or another. “C’mon lads. I’ve got a bottle of whiskey waiting for me and we still have to appease the Sirius Black Fan Club and let them all have pictures.”

Groaning, Sirius took his guitar off and set it on the stand. “You’re on, Prongs. Just means you can go buy the fags after.”

“Deal.”

If he was going to be the one jumping around like a complete twat, he wasn’t keeping this soggy mop of a shirt on. He pulled it over his head and ignored the wolf whistle from Remus. “I’ll follow you lot out. Go for ‘Just Like Old Times’, yeah?”

Peter nodded and then jogged back onto the stage where he was greeted by a chorus of cheers and started a drumroll on the edge of his snare in anticipation. Remus went next and took the right side of the stage, flipping his wireless system on and hitting his petal before nodding to James as he joined them with a coy smile. 

He took a minute to put his hands on his knees and regain himself while they played the first few bars and then ran out and grabbed the entire mic stand. A packed house squealed and sang as he played one of their oldie-but-goodies - and the fact that he had nothing on but tight black jeans, a belt, and an old pair of combat boots. 

By the time he rang in the chorus, he was leaning back against James’ back and giving him The Eyes. This tended to drive the female fans a bit nuts as they liked to ‘ship’ them together with each other. If only they knew how un-sexy sleeping on a cramped bus was. Both James and Peter snored like devils, Remus was a raging insomniac, and Sirius didn’t actually bring a constantly flow of people back to his bunk. Mostly they just drank, slept, and made up stupid card games in which someone would have to wake up a grumpy Regulus and then run or other various bollocks. 

James hip checked him to fuck off as it was absolutely boiling, and he bounded over towards Remus, who looked up at him from behind a curtain of curls that were plastered to his forehead. This was becoming too difficult. Way, way too difficult. 

To bring himself back to reality, during the bridge he decided to jump on top of Peter’s bass drum. Sirius was more than aware that Peter  _ hated _ when they stood on his kit. He started the crowd clapping and then took a running leap into the middle of the it. Somehow, he still managed to catch those smoldering eyes and that smirk. Fuck. 

 

“I am not fucking eating  _ that _ . It’s vile.” James looked mortified as Peter dared him to eat the warm McDonald's burger that had been left out for fuck knew how long.

Peter snickered and pushed it toward him. “Nah, you did say that if I bought the beer for the drive, you’d be my bitch. Eat that.”

He cringed and pushed his glasses onto the top of his head. “I’m gonna be sick. Can’t you be a normal bloke and tell me to just make you a cuppa?”

“We’re not as domestic as Pads and Moony.” 

Remus looked up from his laptop and cocked a brow. “Alright, leave it. Just because I can appreciate the nice things Sirius does when I pout doesn’t mean you have to exploit it for your own personal gain, Wormy.”

Sirius downed the rest of his beer. “Remus does have a persuasive pout.”

Going back to reading whatever on his laptop, Remus shrugged.

“And a great arse.”

The last comment awarded him a nasty glare. He spoke nothing but the truth.

And then James ate the burger with his nose pinched and gagging the entire time, loudly. 

 

“Well, I would’ve still been out, but someone decided to drink six shots of jager and then puke all over the Rob’s boots.” Remus answered James’ question of why he was back to the bus so early.

Sirius grinned stupidly out from under Remus’ arm. So, maybe he’d gotten a bit jealous. And then James gave him  _ that _ look. The look that let him know that he was well aware of what he was doing. These types of looks and knowing came with a lifetime of friendship and four solid years of spending pretty much 360 out of the 365 days of the year together. He gave him a wink and got an eye roll in exchange.

“Who’s Rob?” Peter asked, like an absolute twat.

“Rob was a fucking gorgeous guy who happened to enjoy the aesthetics of my company.” Remus pushed Sirius off and narrowed his eyes when he could stand completely fine on his own.

“I suddenly feel fine. Glorious, even.”

“I’m sure you do. Agitating twat.”

Sirius played coy and ruffled Remus’ hair. “Maybe I was just allergic to Rob.”

“Allergic to me getting lucky is all.” Remus shoved him playfully. “This is like the fifth or sixth time recently that you have sabotaged me. If I didn’t know better, I might get the impression that you’re jealous.”

This made James roar with laughter and he excused himself for a cigarette. On the way off of the bus, he gave Sirius a sharp dig to the ribs, forcing him to double over in pain.

“Love you too, mate, ta.” Sirius winced and hobbled past Peter, pushing him over on the couch, and then wandering into the back. What the fuck was he going to do with himself? Running hands through his shoulder-length locks, Sirius opted to go to the one person who could care less what butterflies he got in his stomach whenever a certain blonde smiled.

“Get out.” Regulus didn’t even give him the time of day to look up. “Get out unless you want to write your own responses on twitter.”

“I need advice.”

“You need a kick up the arse.”

But Sirius sat down as close to him on the back lounge couch as he possibly could and grinned that ridiculous smile he was so good at. “But as my adoring little brother, you should want to enjoy my company and hear about my problems.”

The near replica of himself looked up with the same grey eyes. “I hear about enough of your problems. Every hour of every day. I respond to the problems you cause. I literally  _ manage _ your problems.”

“Exactly. That’s why you’re perfect.”

“What do you want?” Regulus shook his head, annoyed.

“For you to smile - for once. You’re so grumpy. You’re grumpier than sober Remus.”

He shut the laptop and crossed his arms. “Is this what all of this is about? You’re acting like a sixteen year old girl right now. I heard you lot out there. You threw up on Remus’ bloke’s shoes?”

“Five shots of jager poured into a pint glass and downed will do that.”

“On purpose.”

“I can neither confirm nor deny that.”

With a false laugh, Regulus patted his shoulder. “What you’re doing isn’t smart, you know.”

“Have I ever done anything smart?”

“A fair few things.”

“What do you expect me to do?”

“Find a byrd - or some poor helpless sod - and fuck their brains out.” It was the most matter of fact thing that Regulus had ever said to him. “Seriously, Sirius - If you pun that, I’ll slap you.”

He frowned. “So you honestly don’t think - “

“No. Leave it and forget about it. Don’t fuck up a good thing when you have it.”

 

It wasn’t the same and it didn’t feel right or fair when the only thing he could think of as he had one had against the wall of the dressing room and the other holding this blonde’s leg around his waist. His jeans were at his knees and her skirt was bunched up against his forearm. The girl, Emmeline, Emma, whatever the fuck her name was, had offered to suck him off, but he couldn’t finish with her lips around him. So he said he’d just fuck her.

Sirius knew Regulus was on the other side of the door, headphones in. The thought nearly made him lose momentum, but then Emily grabbed his hair and he closed his eyes and thrusted harder until he could feel himself finishing. 

Afterwards as she was flattening out her skirt, she smiled up at him. “You were fucking amazing.”

“So I’ve been told,” He said like the cocky arse that he was. “Look, I need to get warmed up for the show.” Sirius dodged her attempt to steal a kiss and gave her a weak and forced smile. 

Once she’d gone, he cleaned up, wrapped the condom in nearly an entire roll of paper towels, and then sat on the couch with his head in his hands. That had just made him feel empty, not distracted and not fulfilled. He’d literally just used somebody. And the only reason he had was because he’d walked in on Remus nailing some guy he’d met in a bar in the toilet of the VIP lounge the night before. 

Their set was very James-heavy later on. Sirius grinded on James, jumped into the crowd, and did a lot of things, but he didn’t allow himself to catch Remus’ stare.

 

In Boston, Regulus had budgeted for them to stay in a hotel - which was a fucking godsend. Sirius lay spread eagle on the bed smoking a cigarette when James let himself in. He was too busy trying to ignore the splitting headache caused by a horrible hangover that he didn’t even acknowledge his best friend until he punched him in the arm.

“Good morning to you too, you fucking dick.” Sirius narrowed his eyes and rubbed his shoulder. “The fuck was that for?”

“The fuck is wrong with you?” James shoved him and made him move so he could sit at the top of the bed. “Everything was going well until the last two weeks you’ve been the biggest arsehole to ever grace someone’s presence - especially to Remus.”

Nearly growling at Remus’ name, he finally turned to look at James. “You have a lot of room to talk. We get two full weeks out of every year where you’re basically out of commission unless we get you totally fucked and just lead you around.”

“That’s fucking  _ low _ . Even for you.” James shook his head and snatched the cigarette away from him. “That’s a really fucked up thing to say and you know it.”

He sighed and pushed himself up on his elbows. “I know. Sorry, mate. We all get it.”

James glared at him and then took a drag. “You gonna talk to me about it, then?”

“What would you like to discuss?”

“What’s going on between you and Moony.”

“Not up for discussion.”

James groaned loudly and then stabbed the cigarette out in the bedside ashtray. “Are you kidding me right now, Pads? He’s talking about leaving the tour to make things easier for you, taking a few days off and asking Reg to sit in for him.”

This got Sirius attention. “He  _ what _ ?”

“You prick!” Biting his lip in anger, James pushed Sirius off of the bed with a hard thump. “This is because you caught him fucking some dude, isn’t it? He was completely spot on when he said you were acting out in jealousy.”

He pulled himself up on his knees and grabbed the edge of the bed to fully stand. “What are you on about?”

“I know what you’ve been doing. It’s not like you and you’re acting like a fucking moron. I’m about ready to tell you to take a few days off.”

“You can’t do that.”

“Either sort your shit out or I will. It’s you causing the problems.”

“What bloody problems?”

“You’re in love with our mysterious, slightly socially awkward, and sweater-obsessed bassist, you thick-headed son of a bitch.”

“Walburga was a bitch.”

“You’re getting off topic. Admit it.”

“No.”

“Fine. Don’t show up tonight.”

“Excuse me?”

“I’ll say you’ve got the flu or the clap or some shit.” James had his dead-serious face on and Sirius was well aware that once his mind was set on something in this state, there was no getting him to take it back.

Sirius let the door slam when James left the room and held his eyes closed tightly. After a minute, he couldn’t control himself and just screamed and swore and kicked things. How did he manage to let things get so messed up? Whatever he had to do, he wasn’t going to sit out on a show because he couldn’t control his own fucked up feelings.

A shower had been a good idea. A long hot shower. He pretended that he was washing all of that away and when he got out, dried himself off, and put on his pants, he stared at himself long and hard in the mirror. Truthfully he was a blood gorgeous man. Tattoos, long dark hair, enough muscle to not look scrawny, and he could do wonders with his eyes and a goofy smile.

_ I can say it out loud _ . “I-”  _ Nope. No I can’t. I’m fucking shite and don’t know how to properly express my feelings. _

“Sirius?” He could heard James sneaking about the bedroom. “Mate, look, I’m sorry.”

Sirius took a breath and walked out of the bathroom, arms crossed. “Yeah?”

It was a good measure of friendship that James didn’t even bat an eye at the fact that Sirius had on nothing but a pair of Avengers pants and nothing else. “I was a bit of a dick. You were a bit of a dick.”

“This is a record. We need a phone to get this on video. You’re coming to apologize half an hour after you were an insolent tosspot?”

“Oi, watch it.”

“I think I needed to be told off, honestly.” Sirius flopped onto one of the barstools by the window.

James sat beside him. “If it’s any consolation, I don’t think he feels much different.”

Rolling his eyes, Sirius lit a cigarette. “Has a funny way of showing it.”

“He might think the same of you, dickhead. You need to say something, though.”

“I know.”

“We have another two weeks on the road and then a few months home to write the new record. I’ll give you that two weeks - but stop being an arse to him.”

“Deal.”

 

The Boston show had been great so far. Sold out crowd, great band chemistry, and Sirius felt on point for the first time in a few weeks, so he took lead on vocals. As James was doing the octave scales during their next to last song, Sirius stayed on rhythm and instead of leaning on the other guitarist like he normally would, he bounced across the stage to where Remus was playing slap bass. The man was a god when he had that thing. Well, he was a god most of the time, but musically he was a genius. It was him and Peter that came up with nearly everything bar lyrics - and Remus did write some of those as well.

He took over Remus’ mic to sing more, but instead of zoning out with the crowd like he tended to do, he made eye contact with the other man. Of course, he’d already torn off his sweater and was wearing some ridiculous shirt that said ‘I’ll strike a chord in your heart’, which was apparently for some independent clothing label and he’d agreed to do a shoot with them.

And then was the part where Remus needed to sing as well and this is what Sirius had been waiting for to test the waters. Instead of going back to his own mic stand on the left of the stage, he stayed there with Remus to share. Because he was being a diva, Remus was forced to lean his forehead dangerously close to Sirius’. Boldly, he moved closer and push their heads together. It made him smile as they sang.  Another moment later and he was back to back with James starting their final song, back in stage euphoria as Remus looked up from under his curly blonde hair and smirked at him before jumping up to stand on one of the speakers.

 

The next two weeks full of shows went pretty much exactly like that, with the occasional acoustic set or other random nonsense. But Baltimore was their final show on this tour and he’d made up his mind. Tonight was the night. In typical Sirius Black fashion, he had formulated The Perfect Plan.

“How’s it sound, Prongs?” He asked, chewed on his thumbnail.

James snorted and shook his head. “You’re fucking mental.”

Regulus on the other hand was not so impressed. “Don’t feed his insanity, James. If he screws this up-”

“Oh, piss off, Reg.” James smacked him atop the head with the newspaper Remus had left lying around. “You know they’ve been making googly eyes at each other for years.”

“I’m aware.”

“You’re aware? And you never thought to tell your loving big brother this?!” Sirius chimed in.

“You lot pay me to run this like a business-”

“Come off it,” James stood and completely messed up Regulus’ perfectly executed quaff. “He’s your brother. Just do the thing and relax - for once.”

“Don’t start, James, I’m not - “

Rolling his eyes, Sirius could tell James was going to be an arse before he’d even done it. Instead, he sat back in his chair with a smirk and watched.

Instead of letting Regulus argue with them, James grabbed him by the collar and pressed his lips to his, hard, completely catching the younger man off guard. The whole thing sent Sirius rolling with laughter and turned Regulus completely red in the face.

“Well, I’ll be-”

“You’ll be lucky to be able to claim you’ve been kissed by James fucking Potter, that’s what!”

“You’re such a twat.” There is was! Regulus smiled and wiped his mouth.

“Only man in history to have kissed both of the beautiful Black Brothers!” James cheered and winked at Sirius. 

It sent the three of them into fits of laughter and even more so when the realized Peter had been stood in the threshold of the bus’ back lounge.

“What the fuck kind of nutty shite is going on back here?” Peter stared at them, nearly dropping his hot pocket.

James stood and yet again, Sirius saw what was coming before it actually happened. He opted to kiss Peter as well and then burst out laughing and walk towards the front of the bus declaring that no one could break the tension like he could.

Peter looked around and finally sat to replace James on the couch. “The fuck just happened? Is James stoned again?”

Regulus was nearly crying with laughter at this point and put his head in his hands, finally having lightened up. “Potter is just an idiot.”

“Got that right, now what’s going on?”

And that’s how they told Peter.

Remus was checking to make sure his basses were turned properly and that everything was to his liking when Sirius caught up with him. He walked up with his hair pushed back with his sunglasses atop his head and chewed on his lip ring.

“Alright, Pads?” Remus mumbled with a piece of electrical tape between his teeth, fixing something on a wire. The boy was meticulous with his equipment. Regardless of how long they’d known Benjy and how many years he’d been their roadie, Remus prefered to do his on his own.

“Yeah, grand.” He always had to look up a few inches at Remus as he towered over pretty much anyone. “Are, uh, are we alright now?”

Remus gave a small laugh, taped a few cables together and then turned to face him. “Yeah, why, what’s up?”

“Well, before… James told me you were thinking about leaving?”

He shook his head. “I was being stupid. I thought - I just thought I’d done something wrong.”

“So, we’re cool?”

“Absolutely golden. What’s going on with you?”

Sirius shrugged and helped him wheel his stack over with the rest of their gear. 

 

So he’d disappeared for the rest of the day before the show. He’d stop in at Soundgarden, took a few press pictures and spoke to HFS for a bit about being in Baltimore and how the tour had gone, walked down Thames Street to Broadway and then Fleet and finally found himself where his goal had been. He whistled and rocked on the balls of his feet a minute before going in.

There was a radio interview a few years back when he was asked about his hair and how it had always been such a staple with him. The interviewer asked if he’d ever think about cutting his hair and he said he’d never do it longer than his shoulders or shorter than his chin - it was his look. When prompted again, he’d responded that maybe he’d do it if he found the right person and didn’t need to get by on just his good looks anymore.

And here he stood in front of a barber shop that was recommended to him by a trusted friend in the city. It took a deep breath and a lot of courage. 

On the way out though, he was positively beaming and couldn’t stop running his hands through his hair. It wasn’t as short as Regulus’ near scalping with a bit on top, but it wasn’t as long as James’ messy mop sticking all over. He’d been teased incessantly about that interview for the last year and figured if he was making big gestures, he may as well have a laugh with himself.

Truthfully, Remus was probably going to give him a slap for drawing attention, but Sirius didn’t care.

He got back to the venue just in time to slip into the dressing room when he knew that Remus would be on the side stage to watch all of the opening bands - like he did every night. He’d gotten a text asking where the fuck he was and he’d responded that he was there and not to worry.

Earlier he’d stopped by the bus and nicked one of Peter’s oversized beanies to hide his new ‘do and putting it on, he tucked the stray hairs into it so that no one would really know the difference. Now to go back over the folded up pieces of paper and wait for James. It definitely wasn’t too early to start writing for the new album and the fans always loved when they surprised them with an impromptu acoustic session.

Right on cue, James burst in through the door completely out of breath. “If - Reglus - asks -” He leaned over putting his hands on his knees, half laughing and half gasping for air. “I have neither -  seen his -  hair gel - nor - would I -  _ ever _ -”

“You put glue in it again, didn’t you?” Sirius crossed his arms over his chest and smirked.

“Yeah.” And then he was laughing so hard he started coughing. “It was bloody brilliant.”

“He’s on the warpath, isn’t it?”

“Totally blamed Pete and ran.”

“Well, we have more pressing matters.” Sirius flopped on the couch and grabbed his acoustic guitar. “We have a new song that we wrote last night without the help of our rhythmic geniuses and we need to figure out another acoustic song to do.”

James joined him and grabbed his own acoustic, immediately starting with scales out of sheer boredom. “Ah, we’ll be alright. Although, I call cover for the other song.”

“We going classic or ridiculous?” Sirius pressed.

“Ridiculous. It’s always more fun that way.”

“Paper Rock Scissors for it?”

“JamisonParker? Really, Sirius? I know you’re all about the golden age of emo and pop punk, but our fans will have no idea who-”

“No, you twat.” Sirius laughed and held out a fist. “To figure out who’s singing it.”

“Winner picks the song, loser sings?” James cracked his knuckles.

“As always, dear.” Sirius winked.

Sirius lost. After the new song, he would be playing ‘You Belong With Me’. He was actually okay with this and would absolutely nail it. It was definitely payback for having James sing ‘Single Ladies’ in Philly. The thought made him have to hold his breath so he didn’t start giggling to himself about it like he had on stage.

“You’re thinking about me singing Beyonce again, aren’t you?”

“How’d you know?”

“Because you’re a prick and I know you.”

 

When they finally walked to the side stage, Remus was standing with Peter and discussing the first place they were going to eat once they got back to the UK. Remus said he was going anywhere that would serve him a heaping portion of actual shepherd’s pie and none of this cottage pie shite the US tries to pass off. Peter shook his head and said he was just going to go get a massive plate of sausage, eggs, and chips.

“Fuck that, mate. Gonna go get a roast dinner with lamb and mint gravy.” Sirius put an arm around each of them. 

“Is that my hat?” Peter asked.

“Yes. Yes, it is.” Sirius nodded and gave him a stupid grin. “Now you’ll shut up before I strangle you with it.”

James snorted and gave the other band hugs and pats on the back as they came out. 

Regulus walked up from behind them and glared directly in Peter’s direction. His hair looked particularly filmy and very firm in place. This made Sirius and James nearly piss themselves.

“Good one, Pete.” Sirius managed to squeak between his fits of laughter.

“What did I do this time?” He looked around, completely confused.

Once the stage was changed over and the crowd went nuts when their banner was dropped, Peter pulled his drumsticks out of his back pocket in preparation for being the first one to run out. They opted for no intro song and instead were going to let Pete go nuts and drum solo for a minute as it was the last show for a few months. 

As expected, it sent the crowd nuts. After a minute, Remus smirked over at Sirius, turned his back to the stage quickly to flip on his wireless pack, and then he darted off to his side of the stage, hit his pedal and met Peter’s intensity on his bass, winking at the audience before jumping up on the platform with Peter’s kit and having a bit of fun.

“Ready Pads?” James beamed, adjusted the strap on his guitar and then patting him on the cheek.

Sirius nodded and pulled off his jacket, sitting it over the rail and checking to make sure his guitar was going to be easily accessible for him when they finished the first two songs. As expected, the first two went off without a hitch. He jumped around all over, danced with James, annoyed Peter, and got everyone in the crowd pumped up for the rest of their set. 

For the third song, he went and grabbed his guitar, slung it over his shoulder, and then returned to the middle mic. While James was messing with the tuning pegs and Remus was correcting his pedals, Sirius engaged with the crowd.

“Wow, hello Baltimore!” Sirius grinned to the packed Ram’s Head Live and then looked around to his bandmates. “So, you may have heard of us. We’re called The Marauders.” Lots of whistled and screaming. “Hopefully you’re having as much fun as we are. We’re ending this tour here because it’s one of our favorite cities to play, so you lot have some expectations to live up to. Let’s see if you can be louder than DC, yeah?” And of course, that got them all going and he laughed.

Remus was rolling his eyes, but had a coy smirk while he was watching Sirius.

James chimed in, “When we head back home, we’re going to be recording a new album.” More screams.

“Maybe if we’re feeling generous we’ll give you a bit of a taste. But before that, my apologies, let me introduce myself and these arseholes behind me!” He gave Remus a wink. “Behind me on the drums with that absolutely brilliant drum solo a few minutes ago is Peter! He can eat four cheeseburgers in about a minute.” For that comment he got a very rude gesture. “To my left, over here with the glasses that might as well be double paned windows is James, our guitar god and the less charismatic half of our vocals.” 

“By that he means I’m not as much of a needy bastard.” James rolled his eyes.

“To my right is the ever mysterious and absolutely gorgeous bassist, Remus. He doesn’t like to talk much -”

“More like I can’t get a word in.” Remus stood up to his own mic and gave a laugh.

“And of course, I’m Sirius.” He took an obnoxious bow and a dig in the side from James before pulling off the beanie and throwing it at him.

There were wolf whistles and cheering.

“Oh, yeah. I got a haircut today as well.” He winked and then set off feedback from his guitar and nodded to Peter to start their third song. 

When he hit his own pedal and made his way over towards Remus while James sang, he more than caught his reaction. Wiggling his eyebrows, he shook the hair back off of his face and winked at him before bouncing around over to James’ mic to play with his back against him.

By the time they broke for the acoustic set, Peter looked like he’d gone for a swim, and Remus was leaning against the wall pouring a water bottle over his hair and flipping it back. James was raring to go as usual and Sirius was giddy.  

Remus patted him on the back, and then ruffled his hair. “What’s this about?”

“You don’t like it?” He pouted.

“I think it suits you.” The corners of his lips turned up and Sirius was itching to stray from The Plan, but James yanked him away and shoved an acoustic guitar at him.

The Taylor Swift cover went over great with the crowd, who all sang along. He’d made a point to look over to the side stage for Remus and Peter a few times, who were both dying laughing. The new song didn’t have the echo from the crowd as he and James had written it last night, but the reception was great for it. 

When they went to switch guitars again, Remus held him back for a second. “What was that about?”

“What?” He played stupid for now.

“You  _ know _ what.” He chewed his bottom lip. “I thought we were okay.”

“Moonydearest, we’re more than okay.” And with a wink he skipped back to the middle mic and continued.

Peter broke two drumsticks, chucked one at the back of James’ head for a nasty comment and had yelled obscene things at them for the last half - luckily the crowd couldn’t hear. He doubted the wanted to endure the jokes about the things he’d do to Remus’ mum or how he’d pay money to set Regulus up with a bloke for a blind date just to watch him get flustered.

James was just phenomenal as always and while they had two completely separate stage personalities, they had spent all night complimenting each other verbally and musically. Towards the end, it was very obvious that fishiness was going on and the man couldn’t keep a secret to save his life - so it was lucky he had the opposite end of the stage from Remus.

Like he was every fucking night, Remus was just a bundle of sheer talent. Whether he was going above and beyond with a baseline, sending shivers down Sirius’ spine with his smile, or engaging silently with the crowd - he was amazing. Really, he could probably just stand there and stare off into the distance and Sirius would still find him amazing, but that was beside the point.

Here it was, his moment. Well, the beginning of it at least. They said goodbye to the crowd and slipped backstage to give them a few minutes to scream for more. James and Peter immediately started the banter and drug Regulus into it, which left him stood next to Remus.

“Sirius.”

“Yes?”

“This - all of this - it was about that guy a few weeks ago wasn’t it?”

“Hmm?”

“That’s when things got weird. And we’ve been alright again, but things have been different. And tonight… I don’t know what to think.”

“I don’t get what you mean, Remus.”

“You spent two weeks barely speaking to me. Then you’ve been obnoxious for the last two and very secretive. You cut your bloody hair, for fuck’s sake!”

“I know, it looks great, doesn’t it?” Sirius started fooling with his hair again, listening to the fans chanting for another song.

“It’s all because you walked in on me fucking that bloke.” He fumbled with the strap of his bass nervously. “Is it? Did it make things… I don’t know, off?”

“Well…”

“You  _ can _ fucking talk to me about this shit, Sirius.”

Sighing, Sirius put a hand on his shoulder. “It just should’ve been me, that’s all.” And then Peter was going back on stage and James was following. Sirius made a move to go as well, but Remus tried to get his wrist.

“Wait,  _ what _ ?”

Sirius winked and pulled away, going back to his mic with an enormous grin on his face. 

 

After the encore, James was throwing the spare pics and set lists into the crowd, Sirius had posed for a few pictures with the front row, and Peter was chucking around drumsticks like he was a peaky, British Oprah. Remus was pacing the side stage flailing his arms towards Regulus and pointing. It made Sirius chuckle because he knew he’d gotten him all kinds of worked up. 

When he finally left the stage, Remus grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him to the side. “You. Me. Private conversation. Now.”

Sirius let himself be pulled to the back room where they were piling in the kit to be packed back up. He tried keeping a straight face to see how mad it drove Remus before he got there. Before he could get a word in, Remus pushed him against the wall, looking absolutely wild with confusion.

“Well, hello to you as well, Moony.” Sirius winked at him and then pushed some of the sweaty curls out of his eyes.

“Did you mean it?” He was inches away, amber eyes searching Sirius’ face for any clue.

“I’ve always bloody meant it, now shut up and just fucking kiss me already.” He laughed and then pulled Remus closer to steal the kiss as he couldn’t control himself anymore. “I don’t care if this is reckless or stupid.”

Remus’ signature smirk could be felt in his kiss and as he reached a hand to slide across Sirius’ cheek and into his hair. “Since when is anything you do something other than reckless or stupid?”

“Good point.”

“How long?” 

“Fucking years, mate.”

“And you couldn’t have thought to say something a bit sooner?”

“I could say the same for you.” Sirius laughed through kissing him more. Who knew Remus’ bottom lip was so addictive? And the fact that he was one to take charge? Honestly, Sirius was used to leading everything from interviews to snogging, and most definitely sex. This was a whole other league though.

Remus’ fingers toyed with the hem of his shirt and he broke the kiss, rubbing his nose against Sirius’, to look him in the eyes and do that rare Moony smile where his dimples showed and he had to look down in order to keep himself from laughing nervously. “Should we, like, get back to the bus or something?”

Biting his lip, Sirius ran his hand through Remus’ hair and then walked him backwards into Peter’s drum kit. “Nah.”

“Oh, yes, I see.” He pulled Sirius closer by the collar and sat carefully onto the case for the bass drum. “Why do the cordial thing when you can fuck Peter off?” 

Sirius leaned down and kissed him again, putting a knee between his thighs and grinning into his mouth. “Mike Ness’ left bollock, you just fucking  _ get _ me.”


End file.
